In classic Hollywood style I figured I would start to shamelessly self promote my upcoming AAR months before it actually hits the streets. This is a closed AAR.

My opponent is going to be thegreatwent (TGW) from this very forum. I've been playing a 2x2 AE game with him as my teammate playing Japan, and it has been a great learning experience. Now I'm ready to put the learned mistakes and game mechanics to the ultimate test by playing Japan in Scen 28 of Da Big Babes WITH the REDUCED shipping capacities. I'm just a glutton for punishment I guess.

I'll try to keep production standards up to par with my WITP AAR I did, but if you plan to follow this I'd suggest you subscribe because for the next couple months posts will possibly be pretty slow as I work on plans.

Excel is my friend, and Tracker is a great helper too. With the two I'm unstoppable! Mwahaha.

Anyway - I FULLY expect you all to freely chip in with some ideas since I need all the help I can get. Broad strategic vision is what I'd like to hear about at the moment. Remember, this is scen 28 of Babes, so no extra Scen 2 divisions, AND reduced shipping AND greater logistical challenges to overcome. Given all that, I think continental US is off the table, but all the rest is still fair game. (Kidding...)

Seriously - step one is figuring out what 'Phase 2' is going to be.

My short list is the following options: 1) Ceylon - slows down counter offensive in Burma, allowing me time to take out China, with some SAA help, before Burma gets counterattacked. 2) Darwin, Perth & New Zealand - cut SLOCs for Australia, hopefully slowing counterattack into DEI. Too far from China to move units back and forth, so China will probably not have a chance of being defeated. 3) Isolate Pearl - Go for Midway, Line Islands, etc. to delay the start of US Pacific offensive as long as possible and then create as may amphib operations for the US as possible since each one presents opportunities for mistakes as well as burns time.

Other things that should be added to that list? Any favorites you have for the list?

Watch this space for further updates on my plans. If you are a excel, logistics and production fan I'm sure you will be want to contribute or take notes so you don't repeat my mistakes.

Picture #1: The location of the opposing HQ's in the south Denver suburbs.

This Babes mod certainly requires some serious analysis of where the different types of engineers are. There is a real shortage of units that have embedded combat engineers (as in the type that can reduce forts), so I'm going to have to think hard about where to send them.

So far the plan is to hit Manilla with KB, and then split it into 2 groups - one to head south to cover the invasion of Timor and one to head towards Malaysia to cover the offensive into Palembang. Ambon will probably be a turn one landing, Mersing on day 2, Palembang maybe day 10?

Luzon will get light treatment. Enough units to keep the defenders bottled up, while a bunch of Artillery from Manchukuo comes in and shells the defenders daily until I can come back and clean it up.

Singapore has to go down FAST so that those units can load up and head right on to Ceylon. The two parts of KB will recombine when Singers falls and then go to cover that invasion. I still need to work on the timetable, but I'm hoping to be sailing for Ceylon no later than Feb 1. Hence the need for a Mersing invasion.

PM will be an early target as well, with back fill into the Solomons after Horn and PM are taken. Fiji and Noumea are possible phase two ancillary targets, we'll see how they look at that point in time.

AAR's need flavor in my opinion. What would you all like to see? I'm thinking about tracking sub kills and keeping a leaderboard of the subs like I did before.

I also was toying with the notion of picking 1 ship of each class, even the little guys, and make TROMs for them. That should be maybe 10-15 ships that I would need to track. Maybe I could get narrative with those ships when they are involved in action.

Finally finished all my air production plans. I won't post the 'production maps' since they are big and include several worksheets, but I basically built in all my expected factory changes and such so that I can see what the overall demand for engines will be. As I need to tweak things during the war, the sheet is built so that it will update all the follow-on effects of any changes.

I will post these two lists - here are all the R&D factories after my initial round of changes on day 1. The plan is to switch all R&D of a given model over to the next model in the chain just before the current R&D model becomes available.

2) Hilarious title (anyone remember the "Is that even a game?" thread)...

3) Allied HQ is located at Hair Unlimited of Denver?

4) Phase 2 is, IMHO, all about what you want to stop. Your phase 2 target, if taken, can nudge the Allies to look elsewhere (or, force them to focus on the Phase 2 target to the exclusion of other locales, depending on where you go and how you play it).

Return comments - 1) Thanks and me too! 2) Yes, my wife always says "Are you working?" because I use excel at work all the time. I reply "no - I'm playing the most fun game ever". 3) Actually a condo/apartment building right next door. 4) I want to stop the counteroffensive in Burma as long as possible, so that is why I'm leaning towards Ceylon. I realize it won't hold forever, but I think that will buy me a few extra months.

Still plugging away here. I almost have finished my infantry plans, and then will follow that up with all the support units, most importantly construction engineers and making sure my torp bombers have access to torpedoes.

Since I already posted the R&D changes, I thought I would also post production changes. Most factories I bump up to 30 so that I can count on them to produce at least 1 plane a day. If I end up with enough in the pool I can always shut them off. I won't list all the factories since all that happens with them is increases to get them to 30 (or 60 or 90) but here are some of the changes from one model to another.

Nates @ Harbin changed to A6M2 Nates @ Maebashi changed to Ki-43-Ic Ida @ Gifu changed to Ki-21-IIa Thalia @ Gifu changed to MC-21 Sally transport Topsy @ Hamamatsu change to L3Y2 Tina transport Pete @ Nagasaki changed to C5M2 Babs recon Sonia @ Tokyo - haven't decided what to change this too just yet - if nothing else I'll switch it to Kates so can get those repaired at a rate of 2 per day instead of just one.

This and the next few posts will be the charts detailing where I currently intend to send infantry units. I'd love to hear any questions, concerns or criticisms of these plans. I left the headers off these charts, but from left to right you are seeing Parent Unit-Unit-Current Location-AV-Target-Notes (if any).

First up is the big one - Malaysia

Malaysia Infantry Plans

Notes: The green shaded units are the ones that start with the warp move. The Mersing units will stop a hex or two offshore from Mersing because we have HR of no turn 1 landings on Mersing. The Imp Guards will come along via railroad, and most everyone else will land in Khota Bharu or Mersing depending on the situation when they arrive. 21st has to wait a bit on units to fill the garrison requirements at Shanghai, and 38th Div needs to capture Hong Kong before it can move out. But most of the others are ready to ship - they just need some boats to load up in.

Notes: The 1st and 3rd SNLF will airdrop onto Aparri and Vigan, and then the various Sasebo units will come in ASAP to ensure the Allies at Tuegugaro(sp.) don't kick the paratroops out. Main airbases will be at San Fernando and Vigan in the north, and Lucena and Legaspi in the south. On Mindinao, the only base that can produce supply is Zamboanga, so I intend to use the warp move 91st Nav Garrison to grab that base early and then do nothing on Mindinao until after the DEI is secured or Port Moresby is secured.

Overall plan at Luzon is to get the Allies into either Clark or Manilla (or both) and then continually air bombard as well as bringing in a lot of Manchukuo artillery to shell the defenders until some infantry units are available to finish the job.

Notes: Rather than use the 143rd Battalion to take Vict Point and Tavoy area, I will utilize the warp move to drop them into Singkawang to get an early airbase south (game map) of Singapore. Two of the parts of the Battalion will then load up and move on to Billiton to setup an airbase there as well.

Two SNLF units will move into Hanoi and Lang Son to allow the 21st Mix and 4th Mixed to leave, join up with the 65th Brigade and then land on north Java very early. They may not take Batavia, but my hope is they can start wearing down the Dutch units, and maybe even kill some aviation support squads. The units at Miri and Kuching may also go to Java early on.

The key plan here is that these two groups of smaller units will move as follows: The Ambon group will then move on to Koepang and then onto Denapcar (if I misspelled that, it is a small island south of Java). The Manado group will then hit Kendari and then Makassar.

These moves together should provide a southern isolation of Java and the interior of the DEI (Balikpapan, Tarakan).

Notes: I'm not so worried about expanding deep into the Pacific, I think I can come back to do that during the summer if the US are slow to reinforce. However, of utmost importance is taking Port Moresby ASAP so I can take some of the north Australia bases to further protect the DEI from an Australian counterattack later.

The unit that usually goes to Bataan Island will head to Guam. The 144th is going to head to Malaysia so the 55th Division will be largely intact. Most of the forces will head to Rabaul and then on to PM as fast as possible. I will also buy and send a Manchukuo infantry regiment type unit down that way in case it is needed. Pretty much everything going to Rabaul will move on to PM. Once PM is secure, I may take some of those units and hit Fiji and/or Noumea.

The two units at Jaluit are still unassigned, but once I get some ships there I can send them maybe to Canton Island. I have to be careful that close to Pearl because KB will probably be in the DEI and Bay of Bengal until summer, so US carriers can sink my transports if they show up at the right time.

One thing I'd change in my current game would be having an intact 55th Div. Other units can do what the 144th can without the downside of a divided division in Burma. It is, however, fun to say "South Seas Detachment."

Here's my ship conversion chart I made to help me sort all these options out:

I know people debate some of these things often, but here's some of my thoughts for what they are worth.

AG/AKE/AD/AS/AR: I'm going to make about 25-35 AKE's. They can reload torps just as well as AD, with the benefit of loading guns and CAGs too. The Lima class has enough capacity to load every weapon aside from Yamato/Mushashi's guns. In terms of not having as many Lima's in the xAK role, the Lima has a load efficiency of 64.7% (capacity versus tonnage) which is about 2% less than the average xAK. In other words, on capacity to tonnage, they are below average so might as well use them for something else. There are some AG's that make good AKEs and they will be converted/upgraded when available in June 42. I'll make some AS and AD as well, but those will mostly be placed where I put AR's which will be a smaller set of bases that are located to be emergency repair stations. I may make a couple AG's and AGP's as well, but I'm still considering that. They are cheaper so maybe I'll make 5-10 and put them on the very front lines to keep the destroyers well armed.

In general, I want to make extensive use of tenders because of two reasons. One, there aren't a ton of engineers to go around and two, I'd just as soon not build up lots of great ports for the Allies to make use of later in the war. Let them bring in their own tenders.

AV: The Sanyo has a better plane capacity so I'll go with that one if I need more AV's.

PB: The Kiso wins in my book. Slower speed yes, but we have quite a lot of faster PBs and DD's around for those convoys that need to move quick. Most of the converted Kisos will be on resource convoy duty and will be pared with slower ships anyway. Plus the ASW rating of 3 is better than 2.

ACM: I'll make a bunch of To'su ACM's to keep the few mines I have from degrading away. The To'sus don't have much lift capacity anyway, so it makes sense to put them on minefield duty.

TK: I certainly plan to switch some Std-C and Std-E over to tankers later on. The E's are nice because they are the most efficient cargo/tonnage TK ship of the convertible classes. The type E is 100%, versus the next best one, the type C at 98.3%.

AKV: I intend to make a couple Lima class AKVs. Even if they just sit in a dock for a long time, I like to know I have the tool available if I need it. In WITP games there were times I wished I had the ability bring in some planes without crating them first. And in the late war, I can imagine there might be time I'll want to bring in some kamikazes into airfields with no support so they can fly their one way mission.

That's all for now - currently working on getting the exact counts of each tender I want on 12/41 so I can get the right ships heading for the shipyards. I'm sure after the bullets start flying shipyards won't be so plentiful.

I managed to finish mapping out where all the support units (LCUs) would be going. Now I just need to calculate shipping needs and then move the right ships where they need to go. All the initial attacks are set with aviation support, construction and where needed, torpedo ordinance support.

Here's my ship conversion chart I made to help me sort all these options out:

I know people debate some of these things often, but here's some of my thoughts for what they are worth.

AG/AKE/AD/AS/AR: I'm going to make about 25-35 AKE's. They can reload torps just as well as AD, with the benefit of loading guns and CAGs too. The Lima class has enough capacity to load every weapon aside from Yamato/Mushashi's guns. In terms of not having as many Lima's in the xAK role, the Lima has a load efficiency of 64.7% (capacity versus tonnage) which is about 2% less than the average xAK. In other words, on capacity to tonnage, they are below average so might as well use them for something else. There are some AG's that make good AKEs and they will be converted/upgraded when available in June 42. I'll make some AS and AD as well, but those will mostly be placed where I put AR's which will be a smaller set of bases that are located to be emergency repair stations. I may make a couple AG's and AGP's as well, but I'm still considering that. They are cheaper so maybe I'll make 5-10 and put them on the very front lines to keep the destroyers well armed.

In general, I want to make extensive use of tenders because of two reasons. One, there aren't a ton of engineers to go around and two, I'd just as soon not build up lots of great ports for the Allies to make use of later in the war. Let them bring in their own tenders.

AV: The Sanyo has a better plane capacity so I'll go with that one if I need more AV's.

PB: The Kiso wins in my book. Slower speed yes, but we have quite a lot of faster PBs and DD's around for those convoys that need to move quick. Most of the converted Kisos will be on resource convoy duty and will be pared with slower ships anyway. Plus the ASW rating of 3 is better than 2.

ACM: I'll make a bunch of To'su ACM's to keep the few mines I have from degrading away. The To'sus don't have much life capacity anyway, so it makes sense to put them on minefield duty.

TK: I certainly plan to switch some Std-C and Std-E over to tankers later on. The E's are nice because they are the most efficient cargo/tonnage TK ship of the convertible classes. The type E is 100%, versus the next best one, the type C at 98.3%.

AKV: I intend to make a couple Lima class AKVs. Even if they just sit in a dock for a long time, I like to know I have the tool available if I need it. In WITP games there were times I wished I had the ability bring in some planes without crating them first. And in the late war, I can imagine there might be time I'll want to bring in some kamikazes into airfields with no support so they can fly their one way mission.

That's all for now - currently working on getting the exact counts of each tender I want on 12/41 so I can get the right ships heading for the shipyards. I'm sure after the bullets start flying shipyards won't be so plentiful.

Just for fun, here are some of my thoughts on this topic.

Kyushu and Husimi are your two most valuable conversion xAK's as they convert to almost everything. You only get about 24 Husimi and 32 Kyushu, so enough, but not like the Aden. Biggest difference between them is size and speed. Kyushu (5935,18) and Husimi (4675, 14). My interpretation is that it means the Husimi is not as survivable and can be escorted by many of the SC classes due to speed. Kyushu will need DD/E type escort due to speed.

AV - While the Kyushu does hold 9 planes compared to the Husimi 4, the AV support is identical = 12. If you are using Jake/Rufe, both of these have pretty long legs, so most (all?) locations where you would set up a forward recon post, they can fly in to meet the ship. Forward recons are vulnerable, loss of ships is high, but you will do this right? I would tend to use lower value ships, Husimi.

AR - These are very valuable and will be forward, but not exposed. They will need speed to move up to assist wounded CV's. Sounds more like a Kyushu to me. Can't have too many.

AS - Again, likely is going to be way forward and exposed but the tme savings for re-arm is a big force multiplier. As compared to AKE, these are tenders, so also help with minor repair, an important point forward. Lower value ship might be better. I would choose Husimi here.

AKE - As you say - Lima's. You have lots of choices for this, but Lima's are a good all around fit.

Troop Conversion - don't forget to do some. I like to convert all of my 18kn xAK's; Yusen A and Kyushu (not converted to AR); to use to supplement the AP/xAP fleet. Conversion is fairly quick at large SY.

Thanks for the comments, Pax. I'll have to take a look at some of the things you have brought up. I don't think I mentioned it , but the blue shaded cells are my preferred conversion. So on some of these we do agree.

AV - This is a good point. In WITP I used to try and keep the planes on the AV so that there would not be an airfield marker on the base for the enemy to know I had planes there. I'm not sure how that plays out in AE, but I'll revisit as you make a compelling argument for using Husimi.

AR - You may be right, but I do not envision 'running' ARs to meet up with ships. I don't think Japanese AR's ever have the ability to assist repairs while underway. (correct me if I'm wrong please!) So I'll stick with the lower value Husimi's in the forward AR ports and just plan on losing more of them. ADs, AG/P, ASs also help on repairs of the smaller ships/subs too, so I suspect I'll be well covered there. I don't plan to run a heavy Pacific strategy like I have in other games, so hopefully KB is not ever too far from a friendly base.

AS - Yup - we agree on this one. Husimi for sure.

AKE - Agree.

Troop converts - Yes, I'll definitely be doing some of these. I hadn't yet analyzed the best ships to convert, so thank for the headstart.

you are ever out here sometime, there are a few WITP's here - we actually get together now and then.

I will let all know. I am playing John3 right now and he lives near by old stomping grounds when I went to CSU and love to share a margarita with him. I was in Denver/Golden/Boulder quite a bit on business from 1996 to 1999 bidding on projects in the West and working on the clean up at Rocky Flats but that job is done now and I am out of that business too!

You play Allies right? Hopefully you can help me out with what kind of problems the Allies face in this scenario.

What do you want to know? I am playing this mod in a PBEM and we are up to 6/44 and I have just invaded China (seemed to be the thing to do). The only real difference from stock that I see is more goodies. Also, we started this game a long time ago and changes may have been made to it since then that we would not see. I like that subs dont empty their tubes every time they fire etc.

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg AR - You may be right, but I do not envision 'running' ARs to meet up with ships. I don't think Japanese AR's ever have the ability to assist repairs while underway. (correct me if I'm wrong please!) So I'll stick with the lower value Husimi's in the forward AR ports and just plan on losing more of them. ADs, AG/P, ASs also help on repairs of the smaller ships/subs too, so I suspect I'll be well covered there. I don't plan to run a heavy Pacific strategy like I have in other games, so hopefully KB is not ever too far from a friendly base.

I'm not that good of a player, so it seems my CV's and CA's are torp magnets. I have to send AR's out fairly often to meet up with a wounded ship at some small forward base to help pump out enough water to get it to a decent SY. They really help and can save several/many days of time if you are at a small port (1 or 2) with like 60/30/20/0 damage. I don't like to put the wounded ships back in the water until they are like 30/30/20/0 or even better. As you know, anything from a CA up is irreplaceable, so I tend to be really careful with them once they get hurt.

I guess what I'm saying is that I use AR's like mobile NavSup for ship repair. They help and IJ has so few units with NavSup that getting one released is almost impossible and takes too long anyway. Sending an AR (or 3 ) is a lot quicker.

But remember, I'm not that good of a player so I end up with a lot of hurt ships. If I had Pzb's skill, I wouldn't have to build a single AR!

Minor concepts here and I have optimized this due to my peculiar playing style. "Soak up all the good allied torps with BIG ships so that will use their duds on your xAK's!" You may never have had the need.

You play Allies right? Hopefully you can help me out with what kind of problems the Allies face in this scenario.

What do you want to know? I am playing this mod in a PBEM and we are up to 6/44 and I have just invaded China (seemed to be the thing to do). The only real difference from stock that I see is more goodies. Also, we started this game a long time ago and changes may have been made to it since then that we would not see. I like that subs dont empty their tubes every time they fire etc.

What ships does an Allied player wish he had more of? What bases would you hate to lose?